Pubdate: Sun, 30 May 2010
Source: Daily Times-Call, The (Longmont, CO)
Copyright: 2010, The Daily Times-Call
Contact:  http://www.timescall.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1475
Author: Rachel Carter

CITIES, TOWNS EXTENDING MORATORIUMS ON DISPENSARIES

LONGMONT -- Longmont extended its moratorium on medical  marijuana
dispensaries for a year.

Firestone likely will extend its moratorium for a year.

Frederick extended its for another six months.

And Dacono put its first moratorium into place last  week after
originally allowing dispensaries to apply  for a special-use permit.

Cities, towns and counties across Colorado were waiting  on the state
Legislature to better understand how they  should move forward with
local licensing and zoning  regulations for dispensaries.

And now that state lawmakers have passed House Bill  1284, local
officials are ... still waiting.

When the Longmont City Council voted last week to  extend its current
dispensary moratorium until June 30,  2011, city attorney Eugene Mei
said it didn't make  sense for Longmont to enact local regulations
only to  change them when the Department of Revenue comes up  with its
own licensing rules.

Instead, the City Council will have to decide whether  it wants to
allow dispensaries and regulate them with  local zoning and permitting
rules -- or ban them  entirely. Or give the decision to voters.

Firestone planning coordinator Rebecca Toberman said  the town has no
dispensaries. The town's current  moratorium is in effect until July
12, but given the  uncertainty with the state law, the Firestone
trustees  last week said they would like to extend the  moratorium,
town manager Wes LaVanchy said.

Toberman said she gets several calls a week --  sometimes three a day
- -- from people wanting  information about opening dispensaries.

The same is happening next door in Frederick, planning  director
Jennifer Simmons said.

"It ebbs and flows, but when we get the calls, it seems  like three or
four a day, then it will drop off," she  said.

The Frederick Town Board of Trustees voted unanimously  last week to
extend its moratorium for six months; the  extension is effective June
6, she said. Frederick also  has no dispensaries, Simmons said.

Dacono was in a different position because the City  Council
originally voted last fall to create local  regulations for
dispensaries.

"We don't want them in our community; I don't know  anybody that wants
in them in their community," Dacono  Mayor Charles Sigman said. "On
the other hand, we  didn't want to open ourselves to a lawsuit or
violate  people's state constitutional rights, either."

Two dispensaries opened in Dacono before the city  created its
regulations, he said. A third -- MaryJanes  -- applied for the city's
special-use permit, and the  City Council had to approve it because it
met the  city's zoning regulations, Sigman said. The council  approved
the permit earlier this month.

"We did what we thought was best until we knew what the  state was
going to do," Sigman said.

But after the state passed HB 1284, the Dacono City  Council voted
unanimously last week to enact a  six-month moratorium on new
dispensaries.

"Now we have a leg to stand on," Sigman said. "Now that  the state's
moving forward, let's go ahead and put our  moratorium in place see
how things play out."

Lyons also has a moratorium in place. The Lyons Town  Board of
Trustees is scheduled to discuss medical  marijuana issues during its
June 7 meeting. 
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MAP posted-by: Jo-D